What Is Seeing?

My professor gave me a passage today and told me my artist statement reminded him of this particular quote:

"But this isn't seeing! - But this is seeing! - It must be possible to give both remarks a conceptual justification.
But this is seeing. In what sense is it seeing?
The phenomenon is at first surprising, but a physiological explanation of it will be found.
Is it a genuine visual experience? The question is: in what sense is it one?
Here it is difficult to see that what is at issue is the fixing of concepts. A concept forces itself on one. (This is what you must not forget.)"

My artist statement comments on empathizing with individuals by depicting their struggles through their own perspective; the "sides they want few to see." This quote asks the question: what is it to see? Interestingly enough the word "see" is used in the actual passage which leads me to believe maybe the person who wrote it had no idea what they meant, but it does pose some interesting questions. We use the word "see" loosely, and when you get down to it we understand seeing in two different ways: to comprehend visually or mentally. Perhaps what I meant to say is I am providing visual clarity to actions we normally know as subconscious or conscious. A concept does force itself onto an individual, and you can see it in art. Whether it was your intent, it will instill something on the audience, and for that matter it could also be interpreted no matter what I do to convey another person's perspective I am always portraying my own onto that individual. This passage has given me something to ponder.